Nonfiction is not a typical favorite for most high-schoolers. The genre brings to mind dreadful textbooks, tiresome autobiographies, and stingy historical texts, all filled with complicated Old English vocabulary and unentertaining characters. This school year, however, I read a nonfiction book that completely broke the mold for the entire genre. The Spy, released in 2016 by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, is a beautiful, thrilling biography, documenting the fantastic life of dancer Mata Hari.
When I saw The Spy on the shelves of Barnes and Noble, I was instantly intrigued, because earlier in the year I had read Coelho’s most famous book, The Alchemist. I really enjoyed that book, so I thought I would like to read some more of his writing.
As soon as I started reading The Spy, I was pulled in. The book quite literally starts off with a bang. In the very first chapter Mata Hari is executed after being convicted of war crimes and espionage, and throughout the rest of the book, Coelho goes on to prove her innocence through the words of her final letter, written in prison. Everything from her childhood, to her young adult life, all the way up to her death at the young age of 41 is covered, from the moments of joy to the moments of extreme trauma. The entire time I was captivated, and even though I had known the ending since the first chapter, it somehow still made me never want to put it down.
The Spy reclaims a story that history seems to have forgotten. Mata Hari was a very famous woman, a common name among the streets of Paris during the 1910s. After suffering immensely in her early life in the Dutch East Indies, she moved to the French capital, a land she had always dreamed of. There she rose all the way to the top of the entertainment industry, through pure dancing talent and a little bit of romancing, and became an actual celebrity. She had postcards depicting her face, performances at the biggest theaters in France, and connections with numerous French political leaders. After being accused of spying for the Germans during World War I, her trial was a major news headline, and her death even more so. Yet somehow, her incredible story seems to have been cast aside by history, and Coelho brought Mata Hari’s testimony back to life.
The Spy covers everything people look for in the perfect story: a flawed main character whose strengths always outshine their weaknesses, a discussion of challenging social issues such as male privilege and legality of prostitution, and an ending that leaves you thinking about your own life. I somehow finished this book in eight days, and I even consider myself an abnormally slow reader. The writing kept me so captivated, and I never wanted to put it down. The fascinating forgotten story is captured so well in the way Coelho writes, that I forgot I was reading a nonfiction book, and it was like I was reading a novel. If you’ve read The Alchemist, then you should definitely consider The Spy; Coelho outdid himself with this telling of a tale, and once again he has written a book for the ages.
